Coverage Uptake: Zarxio® Covered by 94% of Employer-Sponsored Plans

An analysis released by Avalere on July 11 showed that coverage of biosimilar filgrastim is the rule, not the exception, by employer-sponsored plans.

Avalere surveyed medical or pharmacy executives from 45 health plans and insurers, representing 183 million lives, about coverage for their commercial products. They found that 94% had placed Zarxio (filgrastim-sndz) on formulary. Forty-two percent of the plans responding to this online survey indicated that Zarxio was a preferred brand. This is on par with the competitors (Granix®, Neupogen®, and Neulasta®), one of which is preferred for 45% of the plans surveyed.

In the report, titled “Policy 360: Biosimilars—US Payer Perspective,” Avalere found that coverage in these same employer-sponsored plans for Inflectra® (infliximab-dyyb) was trailing, with 42% covering the biosimilar but only 7% listing it as preferred on their 2017 formularies. Pfizer has only been available for 7 months, so these numbers are expected to rise over time.

Unsurprisingly, health plans ranked relative cost as the number 1 factor in coverage decision making for biosimilars (95%), followed by efficacy (80%), safety (73%), and existing contracts (53%).

In other news: Mylan and its partner Biocon hit a stumbling block to approval of its trastuzumab biosimilar in Europe (application filed in 2016). French inspectors cited Biocon’s manufacturing facility in Bangalore, India, for a number of violations that need to be corrected before the partners can receive authorization to market from the Europeans Medicines Agency. An inspection of the facility, conducted in March, also revealed problems that could affect the production of Mylan and Biocon’s pegfilgrastim biosimilar. The companies had filed for Food and Drug Administration approval of both products, with trastuzumab being reviewed by the Oncology Advisory Committee on July 13. It is not known whether a potential US-licensed version of the drug will be produced at the same Bangalore plant.